Luminescent Properties of Combustion Synthesized Rare Earth and Transition Metal Ions Doped ZnA12 O4 Nanophosphors

Abstract

Nanostructure materials are the materials with structural features in between those of atoms / molecules and bulk materials, typically ranging from sub nanometers to several hundreds of nanometers. The exponential growth of nanomaterials stems from their unique physical and chemical properties and functionalities that often differ significantly from the corresponding bulk counter parts. The transition from micron sized particles to nanoparticles leads to a number of changes in their physical properties. The major change is the increase in the surface area to volume ratio, as the size of the particle moves to a regime where quantum confinement effects are predominant. It has been realized over the last two decades that the size and shape of materials play a major role in deciding their properties.Luminescence has always been a subject of great interest to research workers because of the complex processes involved in originating the light emission. Today s research on luminescent materials have a large technological importance in a variety of applications like phosphor lamps, displays devices, lasers, light emitting diodes, optical amplifiers, luminescence sensors and medical diagnostics. The development of applications has created a need for phosphors with enhanced properties. newline